836 DR B. N. PEACH AND DR J. HORNE ON 



Kelhead), sandstones, black and blue shales, with numerous seams of coal, from a few 

 inches to two feet thick. (2) The Coal Formation, including a lower group of sandstones 

 and shales (Millstone Grit) underlying the Byre Burn coal-seams, and an upper group 

 embracing the workable coal-seams of Rowanburn. In the geological map accompany- 

 ing this paper, and in the descriptive notes, all the red sandstones lying to the south of 

 the foregoing subdivisions are regarded as of Permian age ; the boundary line between 

 the two systems being a fault, which is referred to as " the great Permian Fault." 



In 1863 an important advance in the classification of the Carboniferous rocks of 

 the Canonbie district was made by Mr E. W. Binney, in a paper contributed to the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester on " Further Observations on the 

 Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic Strata of Cumberland and Dumfries.*' While 

 accepting Mr Gibsone's correlation of the Byre Burn and Rowanburn coal-bearing strata 

 with the Coal-measures, he differed from him in reo-ardino; all the red sandstones to the 

 south of the so-called great Permian fault as of Permian age. He contended that some 

 of the red sandstones, as for instance those visible in the Esk north of Canonbie bridge, 

 and in the Liddel south of Penton, belong to Upper Coal-measures. His reasons for 

 this view were " that in their physical characters they are more like Carboniferous than 

 Permian deposits, and that they contain the Spirorbis limestone, Stigmaria jicoides, 

 and other Coal plants." Immediately to the north of Canonbie bridge, in certain red 

 shales exposed in the Esk, Mr Binney found rootlets of Stigmaria Jicoides, Avhich 

 deposits were regarded by him as " the highest Coal-measures ever yet noticed in Great 

 Britain." Again, further up the river, at the Knotty Holm, he obtained plant-remains 

 from a mottled sandstone, which he referred to Calamities approxvmatus and Dadoxylon. 

 Still northwards in this section, but to the south of the great Permian fault defined by 

 Mr Gibsone, he noted a thin bed of limestone, six inches thick, in red and purple shales 

 and clays, containing Spirorbis carbonarius and a Cypris ? In view of this evidence, 

 and on the assumption that the red sandstones of the Upper Coal-measures and the 

 Middle Coal-measures of Byre Burn and Eowanburn are comformable, Mr Binney 

 estimated that a bore sunk at Canonbie bridge would have to pass through from 350 to 

 400 fathoms of strata before reaching the workable coal-seams of Canonbie. This 

 estimate is of special interest in the light of the bores put down in recent years by His 

 Grace the Duke of Buccleuch, to which reference will be made in the sequel. 



At a later date Mr Binney revisited the Canonbie district with his friend Mr J. W. 

 Kirkby, when he obtained further evidence in support of his correlation of some of the 

 red sandstones of the Esk and the Liddel with the Upper Coal-measures. t 



In 1876 the Geological Survey began the mapping of the Carboniferous tract of the 

 Scottish border extending from Liddisdale westwards towards Annandale, the opera- 

 tions in the field being carried on by Mr E. Logan Jack, Mr Skae, and Mr Wilson. 



* Memoirs of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester, third series, vol. ii. p. 343 : also an abstract of same paper, Proc. 

 of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester, vol iii. p. 162. 



t " Note on the Upper Coal-measures of Canonbie, Dumfriesshire," by E. W. Binney, F.R.S., Proc. of the Lit. and 

 Phil. Soc. of Manchester, vol. xvi. p. 192. 



